Byte Echo's Alaqua Cox

1 00:00:00,017 --> 00:00:04,297 This is Sci-Fi Talk, the podcast on how sci-fi, fantasy, horror, 2 00:00:04,417 --> 00:00:06,397 and comics help us explore humanity. 3 00:00:06,977 --> 00:00:11,437 What Marvel does really well is showcase actors that have a disability, 4 00:00:11,757 --> 00:00:14,397 like in Daredevil, and also Echo. 5 00:00:14,577 --> 00:00:18,337 But the story of Echo, or Aqua Cox, is actually deaf. 6 00:00:18,957 --> 00:00:26,197 And here she communicates with a sign interpreter talking about her series. What is Echo about? 7 00:00:54,197 --> 00:01:00,597 It's intense. It has a huge emphasis on the indigenous community as well and indigenous humor. 8 00:01:00,717 --> 00:01:03,077 And it's a great deaf perspective as well that we all see. 9 00:01:03,357 --> 00:01:06,237 More of Echo on Byte, so stay tuned. 10 00:01:06,897 --> 00:01:10,457 Tell us about Maya Lopez. What is she like and why? 11 00:01:11,097 --> 00:01:15,217 So Maya Lopez is a complicated person. She is full of emotions. 12 00:01:15,917 --> 00:01:19,777 She's full of rage because Kingpin murdered her father. 13 00:01:20,677 --> 00:01:25,657 Well, it was Kingpin's men that murdered her father. And Maya found when she 14 00:01:25,657 --> 00:01:29,737 found that out, she thought that Kingpin was her family. 15 00:01:29,757 --> 00:01:34,157 It was her adopted family, but she'd always looked to him as a family member. 16 00:01:35,102 --> 00:01:38,102 And so that just put her all emotions and chaos. 17 00:01:38,382 --> 00:01:43,202 And she just sought out revenge and had rage because she had never had time 18 00:01:43,202 --> 00:01:45,482 to grieve the death of her father. 19 00:01:46,442 --> 00:01:51,762 And when she goes to Oklahoma, she tries to connect with her blood related family. 20 00:01:51,922 --> 00:01:56,702 So it's just a very complicated web that she has to weave through. 21 00:01:57,202 --> 00:02:00,022 And she is a self-centered person as well. 22 00:02:00,102 --> 00:02:03,422 And her character is a little bit hard to portray when I do have to portray 23 00:02:03,422 --> 00:02:05,622 her. but it was a very fun journey to do it. 24 00:02:05,922 --> 00:02:11,002 Speaking of her character being hard, how do you relate personally to the character of Maya? 25 00:02:11,202 --> 00:02:16,682 I relate to her not very well. Actually, I don't think we are very similar. 26 00:02:16,842 --> 00:02:21,382 You know, I had to analyze a lot about her. We do have some similarities, 27 00:02:21,502 --> 00:02:23,522 but I would only say about our childhood trauma. 28 00:02:23,742 --> 00:02:28,122 Her, my trauma is not as terrible as hers. You know, she had to deal with all 29 00:02:28,122 --> 00:02:30,482 of the death that she dealt with and her uncle is a criminal. 30 00:02:30,482 --> 00:02:34,522 But me, I was I grew up basically living in a hospital. 31 00:02:34,642 --> 00:02:38,742 I've had surgeries throughout my whole all my little childhood. 32 00:02:38,802 --> 00:02:41,802 And I don't think any kid should have to deal with that because of my prosthetic leg. 33 00:02:41,882 --> 00:02:46,162 I had these surgeries. So I think that we have our childhood trauma does make us similar. 34 00:02:46,442 --> 00:02:50,082 How would you describe Maya's relationship with Wilson Fisk, 35 00:02:50,222 --> 00:02:55,742 past and present? Maya and Wilson Fisk, they love each other in the past, 36 00:02:55,882 --> 00:02:58,562 and he is willing to give her an empire. 37 00:02:59,202 --> 00:03:03,802 That's how much Kingpin loves Maya. They had a wonderful relationship before. 38 00:03:04,002 --> 00:03:07,842 And then Maya grew up thinking that this was all normal. This is the life that 39 00:03:07,842 --> 00:03:11,982 she's supposed to live as a criminal. And then when she got into her teens, 40 00:03:12,062 --> 00:03:15,802 she started realizing that this might not be as normal as I think. 41 00:03:16,522 --> 00:03:22,882 And then when she found out that her father had died, she realized that maybe 42 00:03:22,882 --> 00:03:25,082 bad things aren't how life should be. 43 00:03:25,162 --> 00:03:30,362 So she kind of grounded herself or actually stepped out away from Kingpin, 44 00:03:30,522 --> 00:03:35,162 chose a different life, and chose to reconnect with her blood-related family. 45 00:03:35,942 --> 00:03:39,782 But she's struggling opening up with them. But she's getting there. 46 00:03:39,942 --> 00:03:43,882 So it's an interesting kind of story that she is telling us. 47 00:03:44,202 --> 00:03:49,082 Can you talk about the preparation and collaboration that went into ensuring 48 00:03:49,082 --> 00:03:53,202 an authentic representation of the Choctaw Nation? 49 00:03:53,682 --> 00:03:58,262 In order to give authentic representation of the Choctaw Nation, I worked with Sid a lot. 50 00:03:58,282 --> 00:04:01,982 And Sid actually worked a lot with the Choctaw Nation as well to make sure that 51 00:04:01,982 --> 00:04:06,642 we are portraying this nation as accurately as possible on the screen. 52 00:04:06,642 --> 00:04:09,542 And it came down from the costume as well the 53 00:04:09,542 --> 00:04:12,862 beautiful symbolism on her hero costume there's diamond 54 00:04:12,862 --> 00:04:16,102 shapes and there's sun shapes that have very specific meanings 55 00:04:16,102 --> 00:04:21,902 to the tribe as well and there's huge definitions and meanings behind those 56 00:04:21,902 --> 00:04:26,742 symbols and obviously Maya is from the Choctaw Nation so it's very important 57 00:04:26,742 --> 00:04:30,722 to her that she's able to represent that and so it's very nice to be able to 58 00:04:30,722 --> 00:04:33,822 collaborate with the Choctaw Nation and making this show authentic authentic. 59 00:04:34,671 --> 00:04:38,251 How did you prepare for the physicality of the role? 60 00:04:38,671 --> 00:04:44,691 The physicalness, I already, how I prepared for it, I was already pretty athletic growing up. 61 00:04:44,811 --> 00:04:51,811 I played a lot of sports. And so when we got to Georgia, I remember I had stunt 62 00:04:51,811 --> 00:04:53,411 training and I had a personal trainer. 63 00:04:53,511 --> 00:04:58,671 So that was kind of easy for me because I already liked to be physical and do physical things. 64 00:04:58,671 --> 00:05:03,771 So it was still a lot because I did train about five days a week and probably 65 00:05:03,771 --> 00:05:07,291 total of, I don't know, three hours, four hours each, you know, 66 00:05:07,291 --> 00:05:11,151 between my personal training and the stunt training. 67 00:05:11,411 --> 00:05:16,391 But it did help me a lot in to prepare for this role when it comes to physicality. 68 00:05:16,751 --> 00:05:20,411 With different ways of communicating at play during production. 69 00:05:20,811 --> 00:05:24,691 How did cast and crew ensure a smooth and effective process? 70 00:05:24,691 --> 00:05:31,471 The cast and crew made sure that the process was effective and smooth by taking ASL classes each week. 71 00:05:31,731 --> 00:05:37,391 Before filming even started, that was a lot of help that they even learned the basics of my language. 72 00:05:37,491 --> 00:05:40,351 And they were taking classes with a deaf teacher. 73 00:05:40,531 --> 00:05:44,351 I'm pretty sure the teacher was deaf. Yeah. Yeah. And so it was very nice for 74 00:05:44,351 --> 00:05:47,831 Marvel to be able to provide that deaf teacher to these hearing people because 75 00:05:47,831 --> 00:05:52,411 they you don't want a hearing person teaching, you know, the representation of ASL. 76 00:05:52,531 --> 00:05:56,671 We want a representative of that nation or of that culture to teach it. 77 00:05:56,751 --> 00:05:59,991 So it's appropriate to be able to have a deaf person teach hearing people. 78 00:06:00,151 --> 00:06:04,031 We also had deaf people that were working in front of and behind the camera as well. 79 00:06:04,231 --> 00:06:06,591 Look for Echo on Disney Plus. 80 00:06:06,911 --> 00:06:12,331 Sci-Fi Talk Plus has a special offer for you, but also for your friends and family. 81 00:06:12,611 --> 00:06:17,571 There's 900 episodes commercial-free, uncut, and even special programs. 82 00:06:17,911 --> 00:06:22,951 Best part, it's free. Click on the link in the show notes for free lifetime access. 83 00:06:23,271 --> 00:06:27,631 But the special offer will expire, so take advantage of it now. 84 00:06:28,071 --> 00:06:31,251 Thanks for listening to Byte. This is Tony Talato.